Fish piracy - seafood caught illegally, not reported to authorities or outside environmental and catch regulations - represents as much as USD10 billion to USD23 billion in global losses each year, claims a non-profit conservation group. The report also estimated that the illegal trade threatens 260 million jobs that are dependent on marine fisheries.
This multi-layered environmental question keeps on being asked, seemingly with few answers that translate into action. With the Center for Biological Diversity estimating that 40 per cent of the world’s ocean surface is now littered with plastic waste, this issue must be addressed and urgently. We need to focus on the issue in a new way, and in doing so create new opportunities.
Plastic waste creates large, expensive and unnecessary impact on society because of its ecological impact. Ecosystems give us everything we need to live – air, water, energy and food.
Water levels of China’s Bohai and Huanghai seas have risen to the highest since 1980, according to the figures from oceanic authorities in Shandong province.
China’s State Oceanic Administration (SOA) revealed on Wednesday that the country’s nearshore seawater suffers from severe pollution and water quality has actually degraded.
The Chinese Government is aiming to develop the country's marine resources in a more sustainable manner in a bid to stimulate the economies in coastal areas and better protect maritime interests.
It’s been a busy and productive few weeks for both the shipping industry and the Hong Kong government.
In his first policy address, Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung announced plans to introduce legislation for at-berth fuel switching during the next legislative session, continue discussions with Guangdong officials on extending fuel switching to other places in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), and for shoreside power at the new Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, scheduled to open in June.
Vietnam's government is aware of the dangerous repercussions of climate change on energy supplies and demand. Deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Institute of Energy, Nguyen Ba Cuong, told a workshop that climate change impacts could cause an increase in demand for energy, leading to an increased dependence on imported energy, especially coal.
The population of the highly-prized Pacific bluefin tuna has dropped by more than 96 per cent from its estimated level in the 1950s before large scale commercial fishing began and it is unlikely to recover if fishing continues at its current intensity, according to a stock assessment.
Spain’s Abengoa SA, a provider of sustainability solutions ranging from solar farms to waste treatment plants to biofuel and desalination technologies, has commenced operations at a large water desalination facility in the Chinese port city of Qindao.
China’s abundance of coral on its southwest coastal reefs has fallen 80 percent over the past 30 years with the fall accelerating more recently, according to a joint Chinese and Australian study.
Our oceans are the most important ecosystem on the planet. They provide a third of our world with food, produce more oxygen than all the rainforests combined, remove half of the atmosphere’s manmade carbon dioxide and control our planet’s temperature and weather.
Individuals and businesses both have a responsibility to protect our precious and delicate ecosystems – as consumers, we can demand more sustainably sourced products; and as businesses, by creating better systems of production and innovating to reduce their impact on the Earth.
A South Korean court has awarded compensation of KRW151.4 billion (USD694 million) payout to victims of the country's worst oil spill, which fouled miles of coast land in 2007, decimating local fishing and tourism industries, according to a report by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Although a record for environmental accidents in South Korea, the payout is far less than the KRW4.2 trillion originally sought by some 120,000 affected residents and businesses and is expected to be challenged within the next two weeks.
Ho Chi Minh City authorities are being pressured to prosecute 25 businesses for violating Vietnam's environmental protection laws. Fines of over USD206,000 have been recommended by inspectors from the Vietnam Environmental Administration under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
The already dubious shark fin industry in China is coming under new scrutiny after authorities in the province of Zhejiang claim to have found that many of the shark fins sold in markets are artificial and some also contain dangerous toxins.
This report by the World Bank spells out what the world would be like if it warmed by 4 degrees Celsius, which is what scientists are nearly unanimously predicting by the end of the century, without serious policy changes.
Companies in Asia reveal expectations that regulations that could lead to rising costs for reporting and reducing GHG emissions will also be the main sources of climate-related business opportunities.
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